


Blood Moon

by Katrina



Series: 31 Days [36]
Category: Bleach
Genre: "Quietly hanging in the faraway sky", AU, Because that's what I like, Community: 31_days, M/M, Relationship is more implied about what's to come
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26980195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katrina/pseuds/Katrina
Summary: AU. Ichigo meets the man who has followed him for most of his life. Too bad it was while he was dying. For 31 Days on Dreamwidth
Relationships: Kurosaki Ichigo/Urahara Kisuke
Series: 31 Days [36]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1228739
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48
Collections: 31 Days 2020





	Blood Moon

**Author's Note:**

> 2020-10-12: "Quietly hanging in the faraway sky"

Above them, the moon hung fat and pale in a sea of stars. 

This was the first time Ichigo allowed himself to meet the pale stranger’s eyes. Well, he was not really a stranger. The blond man had followed Ichigo since he had killed his first man, so many years ago. They had never spoken, and Ichigo had quickly figured out that others could not see the man dressed in black, so he had never said anything to him.

But, now, he was dying. He could feel it with every breath, blood bubbling in his chest, the taste of it on the back of his tongue. Cold seeped into his limbs, arms and legs feeling leaden as he worked on drowning in his own blood. 

Ichigo was dying, but it was not going to happen quite yet. Instead, he smiled at his follower. 

“So, come to say goodbye?” he asked, wishing that the shock he knew he was in was enough to dull the pain. It was such a lovely night, with the stars sharp in the dark sky and the moon casting a pale light bright enough to see everything. He’d have appreciated it more if he wasn’t full of arrows and in pain with every little movement. 

The man crouched in front of him, frowning, then reached out and touched him. There was a gleam of light, and the pain dimmed. Ichigo took a breath, then coughed. The pain was mostly gone, but the effects were still there. Swallowing down the blood in his mouth, he grinned at the man. “Forgive me for not standing. So, will you finally say something to me now that I am one of those dying souls you collect?”

There was a snort. “I should have realized you could see me,” the blond man said with a faint smile. “You always did seem to show off when I got too close.” He reached out, brushing orange hair away from Ichigo’s cheek. “But, yes, I am here to say goodbye.” 

Ichigo’s heart clenched, but he smiled anyway. Had been trying to find a way to speak with this man for years. He had been so young with the first death, only nine, and this man had been a silent companion for years since then. To be fair, this was his first crush, and how Ichigo learned he preferred the male form. His dreams for years were of this man, and finally the man spoke to him.

“Though,” there was a drawn out tone, then the man sat down with a sigh, looking at Ichigo. “First, let me introduce myself. I am Urahara Kisuke.”

“Kurosaki Ichigo,” he said, then grinned. “But I’m sure you know that.”

The man nodded, smiling back. “Yes. I’ve been your own personal grim reaper since you took your first life. And you have been a prolific killer, Ichigo-san.” He reached out again, brushing fingertips along Ichigo’s cheek, following down the line of his jaw. “It’s disheartening that you have fallen now. To ambush at that. Not even able to take one of your killers with you.”

Ichigo frowned. That was not what he wanted to talk about. He had imagined this conversation a thousand times, and not once was it about his own death. “I don’t….”

“What if I could offer you a chance to do so?”

The words, said with a lazy tone, caught his attention. “What?”

The man, Kisuke, smiled at him. “You are dying. I can’t stop that. It is not what I do. I deal with the dead. But what I do with them after they die is up to me.” He rubbed his thumb along Ichigo’s cheek. “Plus, there is something we can do, even if it’s technically against the rules.” 

Kisuke leaned in, the warmth of his breath brushing over Ichigo’s skin. The living man realized how cool the air had gotten as he felt the heat of Kisuke’s skin, and a shiver ran through him. He focused, eyes meeting Kisuke’s for a moment before the man leaned in more, his lips brushing Ichigo’s ear. “We can touch, even kill, the living.”

Then he settled back, and Ichigo shivered at the loss of the warmth. “When we come across a soul, we have a duty to send them on. What we do with our time outside that…. Well, it all depends on the reaper.” 

Kisuke offered a hand. “So, would you like to become a reaper? Revenge, and a chance for a new life.”

Ichigo took the offered hand. He coughed again, as Kisuke’s fingers curled around his. 

Above them, the moon sat fat and pale in a sea of stars as Kurosaki Ichigo died holding Kisuke's hand.


End file.
